The following excerpt relates
to the involvement of the United States in resolving the Karabakh
Conflict.

Let me concentrate on the enterprise
to which we have devoted the most energy: Nagorno-Karabakh. This
is not just a dangerous, potentially contagious conflict in its
own right-it is also emblematic of one of the most vexing challenges
of the post-Cold War world: from Slovenia on the border of Italy
to Kyrgyzstan on the border of China, the 90s have seen the eruption
of ethnic and religious animosities that had been mostly dormant
during the Ice Age of Communist rule. Another manifestation of
this threat to international peace requires the presence of approximately
8,000 American troops to help keep the peace in Bosnia today,
and another still imperils Europe anew in Kosovo.

Photo:"The Face of War" by child-artist
Kamilla Hajiyeva Tsiperovich, 8. The drawing shows her perception
of how war affects people differently - from indifference to
sadness and horror.

We have been involved in the
quest for a negotiated settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
since 1992, when the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (then known as the CSCE) called for a peace conference
to take place in Minsk. The conference never took place, but
the Minsk Group has become a standing body, including the U.S.,
seeking a negotiated peace in the conflict.

In early 1997, we strengthened
our direct involvement by becoming a co-chair of the OSCE process,
along with Russia and France. I serve as the American co-chair
of the Minsk Conference, and Ambassador Pascoe is co-chair of
the Minsk Group, which works full-time on this immensely thorny
and important problem. He and his Russian and French partners
worked especially hard last summer and fall to develop a sound
and promising approach that concentrated on the security aspects
of ending the armed conflict in the first phase, with talks on
status issues to follow.

The rationale was this: At present,
there is no status for Nagorno-Karabakh that would be acceptable
to all sides. Short of imposing a solution on one side or another-something
we have vowed not to do-discussion of status could take many
years. During that time, the life of the region would be disrupted
and the threat of war ever-present. The stunted economic development,
especially of Armenia, would continue to deprive the people of
the Caucasus of the well-being and stability we seek and they
deserve. President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and then-President Ter-Petrossian
of Armenia had hoped to sign a first-phase agreement that would
have done the following:

Ended the threat of renewed
fighting and allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees to go
home;

Returned to each side much
of the territory occupied by the other;

Opened up borders and lines
of communication and trade;

Lifted all embargoes;

Left the land connection between
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia intact and secure;

Provided international peacekeeping
forces and security guarantees.

This security would allow Azerbaijan
and Nagorno-Karabakh to discuss status, without preconditions,
free of any military, political or economic pressure to sign
a deal until both sides found a settlement on which they could
agree.

Unfortunately, the Nagorno-Karabakh
authorities refused to participate in negotiations on this proposal.
They insist on discussing status from the beginning. Our concern
is that concentrating on status first would return the talks
to the endless exchanges of maximalist positions that characterized
the negotiations before we became co-chairs. Meanwhile, the vast
numbers of displaced persons would remain in camps, miserable
and increasingly radicalized. Neither Russia, France nor the
United States is willing to sponsor such negotiations. This is
not out of impatience-we are prepared to be patient. But we are
only prepared to sponsor negotiations seriously aimed at achieving
a settlement, not an exercise in futility.

As I said, Presidents Aliyev
and Ter-Petrossian were prepared to proceed on what we regarded
as a constructive and promising basis. The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities
were not.

The resignation of President
Ter-Petrossian on February 3, 1998, and the Armenian presidential
elections-the second round was held yesterday-have forced a pause
in the peace process.

But a pause does not mean a
halt. We are not giving up. We owe it to ourselves and to the
parties to persist. The co-chairs plan to return to the region
in April. We have made clear that we hope and expect the new
Armenian government to take a serious approach to negotiations
aimed at achieving real progress toward a lasting, fair settlement.